


Irrational Treasure - Part Four

by strangeispowerful



Series: ~*Superpowers AU Oneshots*~ [9]
Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Small Town, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Character Study, Gen, Multi, One Shot Collection, Questions are answered?, Treasure Hunting, powers au, some of them are., the final part!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-11
Updated: 2020-06-11
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:08:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24665149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangeispowerful/pseuds/strangeispowerful
Summary: The final part of 'Irrational Treasure!'or: the Gang learns what's on the flash drive..
Relationships: Alana Beck & Evan Hansen & Jared Kleinman & Connor Murphy & Zoe Murphy, Alana Beck & Zoe Murphy, Connor Murphy & Zoe Murphy, Jared Kleinman & Zoe Murphy
Series: ~*Superpowers AU Oneshots*~ [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1750975
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	Irrational Treasure - Part Four

“Well, we’re not using my computer.”

Everyone looks up at Alana, and she raises her eyebrows, daring anyone to challenge her further. The flash drive that they found buried in the side of dirt wall in the woods by Tansy Creek could have anything on it—pornography, stolen audio or movies, anything else equally incriminating—and having contraband accidentally downloaded onto her prized MacBook Pro is  _ not  _ what she needs right now.

Especially with what’s going on with her dad.

She’s not  _ too  _ worried about it… but it’s there. An undercurrent, silently buzzing beneath everything she says and does. She wouldn’t go as far as to call it anxiety. That’s a very specific feeling, like hollowness, like you’ve lost all of your humanity and personality and all that’s left is nerves and heartbeat and noise.

No, it’s not that. The thing going on at her dad’s work just feels  _ wrong,  _ like she’s maybe discovered a glitch in the universe, or, like, some event knocked the real timeline of fate out of alignment _.  _ Because it shouldn’t be happening at all. 

Alana’s father is having trouble with his job. More-than-usual trouble. Trouble with the government kind of trouble. 

She tries not to think about it, which is easy, because that’s all she knows. Alana  _ hates  _ not knowing—she keeps almost forgetting about it, and then finding it again, like a loose thread on the elbow of her favorite blazer. It’s taking all of her strength to resist the urge to pull on it. To ask. Because her father and mother looked beyond stressed, and she doesn’t want to complicate things for them.

She’s complicated enough. Imagine if they found out about the affinity!

Anyway.

Alana has decided that, this summer, she’ll give herself a break; and by a break, she means that she’s only taking one class instead of two. This summer, she’s chosen photography, just to treat herself, because she hasn’t really ever gotten any professional help with it other than what she’s read in books. Her class starts the first week of July at the library—she even got the time off from work (her boss thinks she’s practically a saint. She could probably get the whole summer off, if she wanted), and with competitive swimming picking up at school in the fall and her endless AP Classes, she’s refusing to let anything stress her out this summer.

The last summer before college. Before life— _ real  _ life.

Nothing will ruin it. Not stress over her father, or stress over herself, or stress over whether or not she’ll meet her summer reading goal.

Certainly not accidentally downloaded porn.

“We can use mine,” Jared shrugs, crossing his arms. They’ve all piled back into Connor and Zoe’s truck, and Zoe has gotten Connor to agree with pushing all of the seats down so that they form a kind of bed where everyone can sit. With the doors closed and the air conditioner on full blast, it’s a close and secluded environment, comfortable.

Zoe is sitting cross-legged next to Alana, squinting at the Sharpied  _ Happy Birthday, Isaac!  _ written on the silver flash drive, as if she expects it to suddenly reveal some hidden meaning. “It’s probably a birthday gift. How old was he turning? Nine?”

“The library aide never said,” Alana replies.

“You brought your laptop with you?” Connor asks Jared, picking burrs off of his shoelaces and flicking them at Zoe, who glares at him.

“I thought that we were just going to spend the day at Adelaide’s,” he responds. “I wanted to get some work done for Code2College.”

Alana perks up. “You’re doing Code2College? That’s great!”

He screws up his face, as if her enthusiasm is tainting the  _ coolness  _ of it. “It’s really not…”

“Computer science major, right?” Evan asks, and Jared nods slowly.

“That’s the plan. If I ever get out of fuckin’ Tansy Creek.” He laughs a little and grabs his backpack from where he left it on the back seat, pulling out a clunky black p.c. with a sticker of a certain grinning green circle exclaiming  _ DON’T PANIC! _ on it, peeling and leaving sticky residue on the lid.

Alana hasn’t known Jared for as long as the others have all known each other. She was the last addition to their little group—at least, so far. She half expects another kid with an affinity to stumble across their paths soon enough. She never believed in fate before, but the powers have made her question everything.

...But from what Alana  _ has  _ seen of Jared, he’s a few things. He’s protective, and he’s sarcastic in a way that makes her wonder if there’s something more to it (she figures that there is). Most of all, though, he’s… dissatisfied. She can’t put her finger on it. He just seems restless. With Tansy Creek, with his grades—which she  _ knows  _ he tries to excel in, because she tutors him sometimes—and just  _ himself. _

Like he’s unfinished. Out of rhythm?

He’s smart. He wants to go to M.I.T., but his parents aren’t sure if they can pay for that even if he did get in. He probably could, Alana thinks. He really is smart, when he applies himself.

And, yeah, she kind of had a crush on him at the beginning of Junior year. Why, she has no idea, because he embodies the polar opposite of what she’d ever expect herself to date. She’d never followed her feelings of course; she’d never dated anyone before, and it was distracting enough. She thought it was a dumb idea to willingly step into something unknown when so much was  _ already  _ unknown.

So that died pretty quick, especially when he came out to them.

She didn’t care about that. It was kind of a relief. 

He opens the screen of his laptop and taps around a bit before taking the flash drive from Zoe and plugging it in. There’s an expectant silence and a collective stare building on Jared, and then he says, “You guys do know that it’ll take a bit to download, right? Like, five minutes.”

“Oh,” slumps Zoe. “That was anticlimactic.” She turns to and grabs her bag off of the backseat, taking out the sandwich from Adelaide’s wrapped in butcher paper. Evan, Jared and Zoe had cleaned off their hands in the water fountain, but Alana still offers Zoe the tiny bottle of hand sanitizer she keeps on her to Zoe’s relief.

“You know… this is kind of weird,” says Connor, and Jared tilts his head.

“What do you mean?”

“Well… our whole day is revolving around some random kid’s birthday present, or… card or whatever.”

“Whoever it is never got it,” Evan points out. “Maybe we should deliver it.”

Zoe’s eyes flutter as she bites into the sandwich. “This is like,  _ really  _ good.”

Connor makes a sound vaguely similar to  _ nnnn  _ and shakes his head. “Too much work. I also don’t want to show up at someone’s house unannounced.”

“Jared,” Alana says, and he looks up. “So, what are you doing for Code2College?”

He squints a little—to anyone other than Alana, he’d look annoyed. But to her, he just looks like maybe he’s thinking. “It’s really not that big of a deal.”

“It’s a great opportunity to put on your transcript.”

“I guess…” his voice fades, and he leans on the car door, crossing his arms, the laptop balanced on his knees. “I think I’m going to quit actually.”

“What? Why?” Zoe asks, swallowing. “I thought you loved it.”

Jared rolls his eyes. “Kind of a strong word?”

“Jared, you love coding,” Evan interjects, writing in a notebook on his lap. “And programming. And engineering.”

“And pretending to be a hacker,” Connor points out.

“I think I’m going to be too busy next year,” he sighs. “Like, I don’t know. After school or before school are both going to be too hard to manage.”

“At least your SAT’s are done with,” Zoe snorts. “I can’t wait to have  _ that  _ stress weighing on me all year.”

“Zoe,” Connor scoffs, “If  _ I  _ can get an 1130, than you’re fine.”

“You’re smart!”

“Yeah, and so are you.”

“Oh guys, it’s loaded,” Jared says, and everyone redirects their attention, scooting to see the computer screen. 

“It’s a video,” Alana observes.

“Oh god, I don’t know if I want to see it,” says Zoe. “What if it’s… eugh.”

Connor does the equivalent of a face palm with his fist. “Jesus Christ, it’s not porn. Isn’t this some kid’s birthday present?” 

“Just play it, Jared,” prompts Alana, and he clicks the button.

The screen goes black, loading, and then it starts playing. Jared holds his finger down on the audio button and turns it way up.

It’s a guy, maybe middle aged. He has a red beard and a birthday hat on, and there’s a woman next to him, blonde, maybe a little younger.

_ Isaac,  _ says the man.  _ Congratulations, you found the treasure! _

The woman speaks up, smiling. They look at each other affectionately—they must be his parents.  _ I’m sure Chris helped you. _

_ Anyways, we just wanted to say happy birthday, and we love you. We know things have been crazy in this past year, with your…  _ he falters.  _ Well. We know you wanted comic books because of it, so, as we promised, here’s the location of your birthday presents. _

The mother grins.  _ Check in the hidden cabinet in the laundry room! Behind the detergent box. _

_ Come and get us when you’re ready to open them. _

The father turns, kisses his wife on the forehead, and then says,  _ remember we love you Isaac, no matter what happens. Even with whatever is going on with you. It’ll always be just fine. _

_ We love you! Happy birthday! _

The video ends.

There’s a weird silence. Jared looks kind of pale, but it could just be the light of the screen.

“...whatever’s going on with you?” Zoe says, looking crestfallen. “I hope he didn’t have cancer, or something.”

Jared swallows. “Why would he want comic books because of cancer?”

More silence, and then Connor: “I don’t know, to cheer him up?” He takes a harsh breath. “Whatever you’re thinking, Jared, stop. I don’t like it.”

“What am I thinking?” He snaps back, and Evan leans away, surprised.

Zoe waves her hands. “Wait, stop, stop, stop. Chill out.”

“Maybe this was weird,” Alana says detachedly.

Because the way that it sounded… like maybe something odd was going on with Isaac. Something relating to comic books—something he told his parents about. It really sounds like… no.

Well.

Maybe this kid had an…

“I say we chuck it.”

Zoe’s head whips to Connor. “Wait,  _ chill out.  _ No. What if it’s important?”

“Why would it be important?”

“Because…” she sputters. “Because…”

“Because.” Evan nods, but he says it so solidly that everyone looks at him and suddenly the outlook seems decided. 

Alana looks around at her friends—kind of freaked out looking, but still her friends of course—and hopes that things are okay. Hopes that nothing gets in the way of the future, because she  _ needs _ that future, more than she needs sleep or oxygen or water. The whole ordeal has dredged the stress out to the forefront and she’s not sure how to react…

“I don’t know what I expected,” Zoe pouts, “I—,”

“Oh  _ shit!”  _ Jared suddenly cries out. “Oh  _ shit, goddammit—,” _

Alana tries not to allow her stress levels to rise. “What?”

He rips the flash drive out, tosses it at Zoe, closes his laptop and starts shoving it into his bag. “I’m late for work.”

A split second of quiet, and then Alana lets out a nervous laugh. “Oh.”

“Jesus, Jared, you freaked me out,” Zoe says, shoving the drive into her pocket. “Is it really that big of a deal?”

“ _ Yes. I need this job.”  _ He looks at Connor. “Are we going?”

He puts his hands up and opens the car door, and suddenly the weird feeling has vanished and she’s with her friends on a summer day, and everything’s okay. It’s like that with them; they could make a zombie apocalypse seem normal. And maybe that’s because they’re just adaptable people, or something, but Alana thinks it’s something more.

She’s more comfortable around these four humans than she is around her own parents, and that’s saying something because Alana’s doesn’t trust people easily. They’re the closest friends she’s ever had.

Connor starts pulling up the seats and it knocks into Zoe who starts yelling and laughing and Alana can’t stop herself from laughing too. Sunlight floods into the car, and everything’s alright.

The future ahead of her is bright, but maybe the present moment is okay, too.

**Author's Note:**

> It is confirmed! A multi-chapter fic is on it's way! In the mean time, check out my main WIP 'From Where the Sunlight Hits'. More updates to come, and thanks for the support, kudos/comments.. <3


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